


Roundabout

by kuro



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-11 08:58:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2062002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuro/pseuds/kuro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve gets turned back into his original form by Amora's magic. Things happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Roundabout

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt by chibiesque on tumblr!

“Amora, do not be a fool!” Thor bellowed, trying to avoid the sorceress’ random blasts of magic.

“The fool has always been you, Thor!” Amora shot back, not willing to listen to Thor’s reasoning.

Steve had been rather impressed by her at first, with her over six feet of body height, rather… _generous_ body clad in a bright green, extremely tight leotard and long, flowing blonde hair. That had been before she had started to attack random people in the streets and started putting them under mind control, though. Then, Steve had quickly realised that 1. this woman was beyond reasoning and 2. he better stay out of the way of her magic. Thor apparently realised that, too, though he quickly and fearlessly faced her when she started attacking innocent bystanders.

At first, the Avengers had been at a distinct disadvantage because they, unlike Amora, cared about the potential (human) collateral damage. But thanks to the combined efforts of Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow and Hawkeye (all who could attack from a relative save distance), they managed to slowly weaken her and turn the tables.

“You will rue your decision!” Amora promised Thor and threw an eerily glowing object (never a good sign) in front of Thor’s feet. The next moment, she had disappeared.

“Thor!” Steve shouted, racing towards Thor and trying to reach him in time to shield him.

Then, the world exploded in an all-encompassing burst of light.

* * *

 

Steve woke up gradually, completely disoriented. He didn’t remember falling asleep. When had he fallen asleep? And this wasn’t his room in Avengers Tower. This looked like a hospital room. Why was he in a hospital room?

“Hey, Steve,” came a voice from his left.

“Hey, Nat,” Steve greeted, turning his head towards her and trying to smile at her. Somehow, his body felt heavy and not quite under his control.

“I don’t feel so good, Nat” he quietly groaned.

“Yeah, I know,” she said in a strangely gentle voice. “But we’ll make sure you’re going to be alright.”

“What happened?” he asked, trying for the ‘don’t coddle me’ tone and probably failing.

“She… Amora, that witch who is out for either Thor’s blood or other body parts, depending on the situation, hit you with a spell,” Natasha explained, smirking a little before she grew serious once more. “It… reversed the effects of the super soldier serum.”

“Oh,” Steve croaked. Very slowly, he lifted his hands and held them in front of his eyes.

Well.

Now a lot of things made sense.

* * *

 

It wasn’t Steve’s proudest moment, but he somehow managed to sulk himself out of the hospital. It wasn’t like he was _hurt_. He was simply back in his old body, and if he had managed to survive the twenties and thirties way back, he would be able to survive the 21 st century. They had inhalers for asthma now and all.

…

Who was he kidding, he wasn’t okay at all. He was scared. This was his worst nightmare come true. He had always had the quiet fear that the serum might only be temporary and that he might turn back to how he had been before, eventually. He still hadn’t been prepared for it when it happened, though. He had forgotten the laboured breathing, the exhaustion, the chronic pain. He had thought he would never forget the pain, but apparently, he had. He had forgotten about being _useless._

The doctors gave him a lot of different medications, inhalers, pain killers, pills for his blood pressure and heart problems, and Steve nodded through all of the careful and long-winded explanations, quietly wondering about the amount of medicine he apparently was in need of. Eventually, they let him go and Natasha brought him home.

Steve went to his room and stayed in hiding for the rest of the day.

* * *

 

“Hey, Steve,” someone greeted him.

“Mmmmmrh,” Steve grumbled from under the covers, not willing to leave dreamland behind just yet. He had had trouble to fall asleep last night and didn’t feel rested at all, despite the pain medicine the doctors had given him.

“Steeeebe,” his visitor whined.

“Shut the fuck up, Stark,” Steve growled, “and fuck off.”

“Aw, someone’s in a bad mood today,” Tony teased him. “Come on, sleepyhead, rise and shine!”

“I’ll raise my fist and give you a shiner if you don’t shut up,” Steve threatened.

Tony didn’t answer, but instead broke out in pealing laughter. ~~Steve liked it when he made Tony laugh. Even when it was because of really, really awful jokes.~~

“Come on, Steve,” Tony repeated. “I know you’re upset, but I need you.”

“For what?” Steve grumbled.

“Guinea pig, my dearest,” Tony sing-songed, gently peeling back the covers. “You’re the only one around here who got magically de-serum’d, so you’re the only one Bruce and I can poke and prod at to find out if there’s a way to reverse the reversal.”

“You just want an excuse to poke and prod at me, don’t lie,” Steve accused him, not quite able to hide his growing smile.

“Mmmh, that might factor in there somewhere,” Tony mused, smiling back at him. “You can’t really blame me for that, though.”

“Yeah, because a skinny bag of bones is _so_ fascinating,” Steve said, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, it is,” Tony assured him. “I would have never thought I’d actually be able to meet the original Steve, so I’m _very_ fascinated.”

With a pat on Steve’s head, Tony stood up and left the room.

“Breakfast in ten minutes!” he threw over his shoulder when he closed the door.

Huh.

* * *

 

Despite Steve’s worries, the only thing that happened when he finally came out of hiding was Thor apologising profusely for what had had happened to Steve in particular and for Amora’s behaviour in general. According to him, it hadn’t been the first time she ended up making major trouble, and she and Thor seemed to have a very long and troubled relationship.

The rest of them, luckily, mostly behaved as usual, minus the regular sparring and plus watchful eyes making sure he was taking his medicine regularly and on time. (That one was mostly courtesy of Natasha who had leaked that information to the others. Not that he had explicitly forbidden here from saying anything. Now that he thought about it, that had probably been an oversight.) Mostly, though, they managed to make him forget or at least made him mind it a little less that he wasn’t quite the Steve he had been before. (The fact that there weren’t any emergencies where he was sidelined and had to watch definitely helped.)

The only really confusing thing was that Tony seemed to be flirting with him. Steve was mostly used to Tony’s strange reflex to flirt with anything that breathed (and also a few things that didn’t), but Steve got the impression that the flirting had turned up a notch since he had been shrunk.

At first, Steve had thought that it must be some kind of practical joke, but Tony was also smiling at him more (and not the fake, Tony Stark™ smiles) and seeking out his company more and more often. Steve was getting honestly confused. He had no idea what exactly was going on here.

Bruce and Tony really started to poke and prod at him as soon as he gave them his permission and he subsequently spent a lot of time in Bruce’s lab and Tony’s workshop, both making a lot of tests and scans and whatnot. After that, they started to throw a lot of science gibberish at each other. Steve would have felt excluded from their activities, but Bruce would give him an occasional explanation, and Tony would repeatedly smile at him, or giving his shoulder a squeeze, which made his heart pound faster every time it happened. Or maybe his medicine wasn’t working properly.

Despite their combined efforts, though, they didn’t really make any progress in researching Steve’s condition the first few days, and Steve was forced to get used to his old new body whether he liked it or not. And he didn’t like it at all.

* * *

 

“Hey, Steve,” Tony greeted him in the kitchen, just like he had every morning so far. “Say, how do you feel about roller skating?”

“Roller skating?” Steve asked, raising his eyebrows. “Never really done it? Why, is that important?”

“Well,” Tony shrugged. “I just felt today was a roller skating day, and I wondered if you want to come with me.”

Steve’s eyebrows were definitely rising even higher, but he took it as a challenge.

* * *

 

Steve was really regretting his own stubbornness right now. It wasn’t the asthma, or the heart problems, or the chronic pain, no, it was the fact that he had forgotten just how utterly uncoordinated he used to be. And his problem was currently amplified by the gaily coloured roller skates on his feet. That Tony apparently was a whiz on skates made the situation only that much worse and embarrassing.

Tony tried to be nice about it and not laugh, though. He was surprisingly patient and showed Steve how to stand, move and turn. When it came to Steve trying out what Tony had showed him, Tony was right there, supporting him by holding his arm an touching and moving body parts that didn’t move as they were supposed to.

Which, obviously, only lead to disaster, because Steve started to blush like a grade schooler holding hands for the first time and just kept getting more and more clumsy. He tried hard not to lash out at Tony, but in the end, he still ended up sulking.

“How about a promise, Steve?” Tony eventually asked with a tiny smile when he saw that Steve had about enough. “Let’s come back once you have your super soldier body back. Then you can triumph over me all you want.”

“That’s not what it is about at all,” Steve wheezed and glared at him.

“I know, honey,” Tony soothed him, giving him a peck on his forehead before he pulled him over to change their shoes once more.

Steve was _pretty_ sure his heart meds weren’t working properly. Maybe he should go back to the hospital for a check-up.

* * *

 

After a while, Steve started to get used to several things: his old body and all its problems, the ridiculous amount of medication he had to take, and Tony’s lingering touches.

Okay, that was a lie, he never really got used to Tony constantly touching him. He did start to both enjoy and anticipate it, though.

Sitting together on the sofa, casually leaning into each other and watching a film. Tony squeezing his shoulder or neck when he passed him by. Bumping into his shoulder when they went for a stroll, casually walking next to each other, talking about this and that.

It started to feel natural. And it stayed thrilling every single time it happened.

* * *

 

“Steve!” Tony shouted excitedly as he popped into his room without warning one day. “I think we got it! The serum wasn’t neutralised by Amora’s magic, it was simply deactivated! I think we’ll be able to reverse that!”

“Really?” Steve asked, not quite able to believe the good news.

“Yes, really!” Tony rejoiced. “Come on, come on, let’s do this!”

Steve shook his head at Tony’s unbridled enthusiasm, but he followed him readily to his workshop.

“Ready?” Tony asked once everything was set up.

“You guys and your science,” Steve sighed. “But yes, I’m ready.”

“Great!” Tony grinned. “No, wait, one last thing.”

He leaned over to Steve and gave him a kiss.

“Last chance,” he explained. “And for good luck.”

Before Steve could say or do anything more, Tony had already gone over to the controls and activated the procedure.

* * *

 

“Steve, good mo-” Bruce started, but his greeting ended in a rather undignified snort. Steve only rubbed his shoulder and did his best to ignore the sniggering audience.

Since he had been turned back to ‘normal’ size, it had happened rather often that he bumped into things when he was tired or didn’t pay attention for a moment. A few windows had already fallen victim to his clumsiness, which apparently was a great source of hilarity for his teammates. He was just glad to be rid of the whole health issues and medication business, though. A few broken windows be damned.

“Aw, sugarcube, did you hurt yourself?” Tony cooed and came over from where he had been preparing his coffee. “Here, let me kiss it better.”

Steve enthusiastically kissed him back when Tony leaned in to give him a kiss, but after a moment and a few gagging noises from Clint, he pulled back and grinned at Tony.

“That’s not what I hurt, honeybear,” he teased, squeezing Tony’s hips for a moment.

“I know, I know,” Tony mumbled, giving him an additional kiss to the shoulder he had bumped in the door frame. “Love you, babe.”

Steve gave in to the impulse, snaked his hand around Tony’s back and squished his face into the hollow of Tony’s neck. Tony giggled and hugged him back.

“You guys are so disgusting!” Clint complained. “Damn Amora!”

“Not at all,” Thor disagreed. “For once, she has actually managed to bring two hearts together without her condemnable skills of enchantment.”

“She better,” Steve threatened, hugging Tony harder.

They had finally stopped dancing around each other. He had needed to get shrunk and sick and asthmatic so that they finally managed to get their shit together. And now he was very, very unwilling to give up on that once more.

“I love you,” he murmured into Tony’s neck.


End file.
